Presidential primary date may hurt Louisiana politically

Louisiana will have to reschedule its presidential preferential primary in 2012 or the state's two major political parties will face the loss of half of their delegates to the national party conventions, members of the state Republican Party's governing board said Friday.

Mike Bayham represents a portion of St. Bernard Parish on the Republican State Central Committee.

Mike Bayham, who represents a portion of St. Bernard Parish on the Republican State Central Committee, said he has filed a resolution for debate at the committee's March 12 meeting, urging the Legislature to once again change the date of the state party primary for president.

Under a law Bayham lobbied for in 2006, the state primary is now held on the second or third Saturday of February, depending on the Carnival parade calendar. Before 2006, the primaries were low-turnout events held on the second Tuesday in March.

But new national guidelines for both the Democrats and Republicans prohibit any state -- except Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- from holding a primary, convention or caucus to select presidential delegates before the first Tuesday in March in a presidential election year.

Those four states can hold their primaries as early as Feb. 1 under the new party rules, Bayham said.

His resolution calls for the party to endorse legislation shifting the primary from February to "the first Saturday following the first Tuesday in March" in the presidential election year.

Officials of the state GOP said Louisiana will have about 50 delegates to the national convention in 2012. State Democratic Party officials could not say how many they will have, based on redistricting in the upcoming special reapportionment session and other factors.

Bayham said that changing the law in 2006 to allow the primary to be held in February "was the smart move five years ago" when the shift was seen as a way to focus more attention on Louisiana, largely ignored when its primary was overshadowed by delegate-rich Texas and Florida held at the same time.

In 2008, the state shared the primary date with Kansas, Nebraska and Washington in a race that was tight for delegate votes particularly in the battle between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The turnout for the primary was about 25 percent, compared with 10 percent to 15 percent in previous primaries.

"Now, we have to dance to the tune they (the national parties) are humming," or face the loss of delegates at the conventions, Bayham said.

State Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere of Metairie agrees that a change in the law is needed to preserve the state's delegates, but favors a primary after April 1.

Under national GOP rules, Villere said Bayham's resolution shifting the election to March would preserve the delegates but would require the state party to award the number of delegates to presidential candidates based on the number of votes that candidate received.

Villere said he favors the present system in which the candidate with the highest vote totals gets all delegates. He said he has not lobbied his position among central committee members. "But there has to be a change in state law," he said.

Bayham said proportioning delegates to candidates based on vote totals "is the way to go to encourage a wider field" of candidates who can get some boost from Louisiana.

Villere said the new rules prevent "front loading" the selection process in which earlier caucuses and primaries are instrumental in helping a candidate get the votes needed for nomination.

"This tries to spread out the process," Villere said. "We want it to be a process."

Bayham said he spoke with Democratic Party spokesman Kevin Franck about the resolution. Bayham said the Democrats also are concerned about losing delegate strength by holding to the February primary date.

Franck said he had an initial conversation with Bayham but declined comment on the resolution. He also shied away from saying whether the Democrats would join the GOP in backing a bill to change the date as they did in 2006 to shift the primaries to February.